Developer levy plan 'could put protected wildlife on sites at risk'

OTTERS, owls, seals, salmon, badgers, beavers and rare fungi and plants could all be put at risk by plans to make developers pay a levy for their impacts on nature, green groups have warned.

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A report from the Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) coalition of 90 nature organisations has warned of a "black hole" in evidence that the proposals to make developers pay a fee, rather than follow existing rules to protect wildlife, would work for many species.

Senior ministers have pointed the finger at species such as bats, spiders and snails for holding up development of new housing and key infrastructure, and have proposed changes in planning rules they claim will work for growth and nature.

Under the Government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill, new environmental development plans would allow schemes that could harm legally protected sites or wildlife to pay a "nature restoration levy" to enable the habitat or species to be improved overall at a "strategic" scale.